Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire
  • omnibus

Shell. Guilty.
Bill Quigley
27 May 2009
🖨️ Print Article

Almost a fifth of the oil imported by the U.S. comes from Africa, and in the decade to come this percentage will rise.  The eastern part of Nigeria, from which Big Oil has pumped more than a trillion dollars worth of black gold since the 1960s, remains the poorest part of the country, and one of the most ravaged and polluted on earth.  Thousands of gas flares have burned for decades, generating acid rains that have poisoned fisheries and crops.  The land is crisscrossed by thousands of miles of leaking pipes and dotted with oil slicks.  The air is unbreathable, cancers are endemic, there are no schools or hospitals and life expectancies are among the lowest on the African continent.  Shell Oil is on trial in a New York courtroom, accused of hiring the Nigerian government to murder its own citizens for protesting the pollution of their environment and demanding a share of oil revenues be spent where the oil is extracted.

Need to know more?  Check out http://shellguilty.com.

 

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • Bruce A. Dixon , BAR managing editor
    The People, Not FEMA, Saved Themselves
    27 Aug 2025
    The official response to Katrina was a catastrophic failure of the state. The real story of survival was written by a coalition of the discarded—ex-offenders and Black churches—who built their own…
  • Movement for Social Justice
    The MSJ Unequivocally Condemns the US Military Buildup in the Southern Caribbean
    26 Aug 2025
    The U.S. is a purveyor of global violence, as illustrated by the intensifying militarism in the Caribbean and targeting of Venezuela. The struggle to establish a Zone of Peace directly challenges…
  • Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
    Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser Epitomizes Black Misleadership
    20 Aug 2025
    Mayor Bowser going along to get along with Donald Trump is unsurprising to anyone who has followed her political career. She is the Black misleader par excellence.
  • Editors, The Black Agenda Review
    ESSAY: The Haitian Revolution and its Impact on the Americas, Michel-Rolph Trouillot, 1991
    20 Aug 2025
    “To understand the history of the Americas we must pay tribute to…Haiti.”
  • Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor
    Delirious New Cold Warrior Ted Cruz Proposes US/Israel/Taiwan/Somaliland Pact
    20 Aug 2025
    Senator Ted Cruz has written an open letter urging Trump to recognize Somaliland, causing jubilation among Somaliland secessionists.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us